


Nevermore

by feedesmarais



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, The Raven - Edgar Allan Poe
Genre: Angst, F/M, Inspired by Edgar Allan Poe, Inspired by Princess Mononoke, POV Brienne of Tarth, POV Jaime Lannister, Past Cersei Lannister/Jaime Lannister, Post - A Dance With Dragons
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-02
Updated: 2021-01-22
Packaged: 2021-03-12 01:01:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 3,237
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28501905
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/feedesmarais/pseuds/feedesmarais
Summary: 12 short chapters to explore what happens to Jaime and Brienne post LSH, starting with Jaime's POV.I've borrowed a lot of lines from The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe.No Quiet Isle in this fic. I wanted to explore the Isle of Faces instead. I picture it as a darker version of the sacred island in Princess Mononoke.
Relationships: Jaime Lannister/Brienne of Tarth
Comments: 22
Kudos: 40





	1. one crow

**Author's Note:**

> The fic is finished and will be updated.  
> English is not my first language. I apologize for any mistake.

When Jaime entered the room, he could feel the chill of winter. Beneath the open window, a spray of ice crystals glittered in the moonlight, swirling in the wind. On the window seat a raven loitered, pale, huge, its feathers ruffled. “Tommen, Tommen, where are you?”. He had to find his son before it was too late, to protect him, to send him away from the shadows. “Tommen?”. Jaime’s heart was racing wildly. Danger was in the air. The room was dark and empty. Black ash and dying embers were all that remained of the hearthfire. Each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor. He had to find his son, his boy who’s been so frightened by Tywin’s dead body in the sept. Cersei couldn’t be trusted. He had failed him. “Tommen, are you there?”. Something moved in the shadows behind the curtains. Cats, three kittens came, meowing. One of them rubbed his fur against his boots. Another headed toward the chair. And then, he saw it. Kevan was sprawled against the cushions. There was so much blood dripping on the floor. He had been stabbed to death. Jaime felt the cold seeping inside his bones. He cried. And opened his eyes. He felt feverish, laying on the cold ground. It was still dark. He heard leaves rustling above his head. He felt a movement beside him and the warmth of his stallion’s breath. So, Honor was still with him, grey against the dark night. Jaime felt ill. When he touched his side, his hand was painted with the fresh blood leaking out of his body. He was near the bank of a lake. He could smell the water and the blood mixing in the crispy air. No Tommen, no chance, only bitterness. “And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor shall be lifted – nevermore!”. A few snowflakes came melting in his face. Jaime knew something was coming. He stared. Right above him, perched on a tree, there was the raven. And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting. And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon’s that is dreaming.


	2. two crows

Here she was the rare and radiant maiden made for the summer’s songs. Her betrayal stung. Jaime shouldn’t have trusted her. Here she was standing before their enemies. The boy and another man were about to be hanged, nooses around their necks. She stood before what remained of Lady Catelyn, a hooded ghost with white hair and decaying skin. Between the two crooked willows designed for the executions, the creature was glaring at them. “Release Podrick and ser Hyle”, pleaded Brienne. “Kingslayer’s whore, Kingslayer’s whore!” cried what remained of Lord Beric’s band of outlaws. They were Stoneheart’s now. “Kingslayer’s whore” the thing that had been Catelyn Stark choked out the words pinching her slashed throat. Brienne’s eyes burned with grief and humiliation. Nameless here for evermore. She came to a decision. Oathkeeper swept up and met another blade. Brienne staggered. “Mercy”, cried Jaime. Then they heard the wolves. In a few seconds they were everywhere, howling, biting, tearing human flesh. The dusk turned to chaos. The only word there spoken was Jaime’s whispered word, “Brienne”. What remained of Thoros, the red priest, was staring in the flames. “Go”, he said. “Flee while you can”. Darkness there and nothing more. It was still the middle of some night when Jaime awoke but he felt less cold. Here, on the bank of the secluded island, he rested against the furs of an huge direwolf. His horse had wandered a few feet away. Where the hell was he? Two ravens were now watching him. “Nevermore” they croaked. So Jaime stayed, eyes open in the darkness, wondering what this grim, ungainly, ghosthly, gaunt and ominous bird meant. Where was she?


	3. three crows

Jaime was alone in the dark abandoned sept. With crumbling stones and bloodstains, ivy, damp air, night chill and lost gods. Frozen, he watched the Maiden and her bright stony eyes. Deep into the darkness peering, long he stood there wondering, fearing ; doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before. And then she was there, before the altar, huge and despondent. He walked slowly down the aisle. His constricted heart was about to burst. The shadow of an old crippled septon murmured : “Look upon one another and say the words”. Jaime took Brienne’s hand. And the silken, sad, uncertain rustling of each purple curtain thrilled him, filled him with fantastic terrors never felt before ; so that now, to still the beating of his heart… Jaime felt those lips against his and something warm filled his mouth. Someone was holding his head tenderly. He opened his eyes. He was still laying on the frozen ground. Brienne’s blue eyes watched him with relief. He swallowed. Brienne put some dried meat in her mouth and chewed before bending over to feed him again. Was she blushing? Jaime felt lightheaded. He was still alive. They were alive. He could still hear the wind rustling in the fallen leaves and the slow sloshing of the water down the bank. Then he heard them, the ravens. Jaime tried to sit and saw three of them, high above in the trees. There he sat engaged in guessing, but no syllable expressing to the foul whose fiery eyes now burned into his bosom’s core. Then he felt her again, steady against his body, holding him. This and more, he sat divining with his head at ease reclining.


	4. four crows

When Jaime woke again, Brienne was fast asleep next to him. He laid still, all his within him burning. The crows were still there too, cawing and thrashing. Soon again he heard a tapping somewhat louder than before. Tis the wind and nothing more! But someone was calling for him. Another bird came, perched atop him and pecked his brow. Jaime chased him. Quoth the Raven “Nevermore”. There were more voices, songs, coming from the forest. Voices as pure as the winter air. Jaime listened and watched. The forest was dark and something, someone was spying on him. There were faces. Slowly, very slowly, he managed to stand and take a few steps toward the trees. The voices got louder, songs, crows cackling. Jaime saw a light, there, in the forest. He started walking, the birds following him. The path was winding between the tall ancient trees, weirwood trees, with faces engraved on their trunks. Then, he was before her. “There you are, sweetling”, said his aunt Genna. She was wearing a grey robe, very unlike the Lannister red and gold she was used to, and was the one holding a lantern. “You can’t be there. This is a dream”, said Jaime. “Well, count your hands”. He had only one hand. “Why are you here?  
\- To say goodbye.  
\- Where are you going?  
\- Oh Jaime, we’re all dead. There are no more Lannisters.  
\- That can’t be.  
\- Of course, that can be. You’re not your father. I told you so. Who was going to protect us now? Well, it seems you only have to protect yourself. I guess you’re the lucky one after all, finding romance and happiness in the middle of devastation and carnage.  
\- But, Daven? Tommen? Lancel? Myrcella?” And Cersei, and Tyrion, he thought…  
\- Jaime, you killed us all.  
\- What? How?  
\- You know how. The boy.  
\- Tommen? Is he alive?  
\- The other boy.”  
Genna showed him the face engraved in the huge tree beside her. It was a strange, juvenile face. Jaime knew him. “This boy”, said her aunt. Jaime felt his inside turn to ice. The Stark boy. “Don’t fret”, said Genna, “We live and we die. And now the song is sung”. Jaime felt dizzy but he couldn’t faint now, in the heart of the forest, before Genna’s ghost. When he woke, though, he was clenching Brienne’s hand. The sky was still dark and she was still fast asleep. Jaime closed his eyes again.


	5. five crows

Jaime was in that tower, the old broken tower at Winterfell. From the window, all he could see was icy desolation. But he was not alone. Five crows were looking at him from the rafters. They perched and sat and nothing more. One of them had three eyes. “What do you want ?”, asked Jaime who felt cold sweat running down his back. In there stepped a stately Raven of the Saintly days of yore; not the least obeisance made he, not a minute stopped or stayed he. Then they were all on him, pushing him, pecking him, cackling wildly. They drove him toward the window, that window. He went backward into empty air. There was nothing to grab on. And he fell. He fell, fell and fell. He could see the grey sky and the birds circling above him. He kept falling, waiting for the impact, fearing it but relieved somewhat. Then that was it, frozen ground, crushing bones, blinding pain. When Jaime opened his eyes, he was still in the tower, laying on the floor. Quoth the Raven “Nevermore”. “Who are you”, asked Jaime. The bird spoke: “You know who I am, and now you can see”. They weren’t in the tower anymore, but in the middle of a battle in a frozen city close to a sea he had never seen. There were other things he had never seen, things that weren’t human, terrifying things. “Prophet, he said, thing of evil! – prophet still, if bird or devil! – Desolate yet all undaunted, on this desert land enchanted – On this home by Horror haunted – tell me truly, I implore –  
\- Dead things in the wood. Dead things in the water. Night falls. Hardhome, answered the Raven, you must go to Hardhome.”  
On the shores of the Gods Eye, Honor was still lingering next to two people entwined in the dark night. Jaime was clutching at Brienne. She was still asleep. There was no more wind, no sound, as if the time had stopped in its track. Jaime was awake, his eyes fixated on the starless sky.


	6. six crows

Tyrion was at his desk in the Tower of the Hand. Jaime looked through the windows: darkness and pyramids. Not the Tower of the Hand then. Tyrion was reading and Jaime was mesmerized by this familiar sight. He looked up from his book and his mismatched eyes catched Jaime’s: “Brother”. Jaime fought for an answer: “A mind needs books as a sword needs a whetstone”. Tyrion repressed a smile and declared gravely: “Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, week and weary, over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore –  
\- What’s this place?, cut Jaime.  
\- Ah, the greet city of Meereen, now ruled by the dragon queen, Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea, Mother of Dragons, The Unburnt, Breaker of Chains, Daenerys Targaryen.  
Jaime’s sight blurred. The world was engulfed by green flames. He heard voices “Burn them all. Burn them all”. He tried to focus on his brother again: “You can’t be serious. Targaryen are insane. Tyrion, I know you’re mad at us but this –  
\- Oh, but I’ve always had a morbid fascination with dragons, don’t you know. I used to start fires in the bowels of Casterly Rock and stare at the flames for hours, pretending they were dragonfire. Sometimes I’d imagine Father burning. At other times, Cersei.  
Jaime felt sick. He turned to go. There was a bird or beast upon the sculptured bust above his chamber door, with such name as “Nevermore”. “To the North, he said before leaving, we must all go North”.


	7. seven crows

Jaime was in the dark, in an unknown dark place, alone. He looked for something, someone, a sword, an ally. Darkness there and nothing more. Deep into the darkness peering, long he stood there wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before ; but the silence was unbroken, and the stillness gave no token, and the only word spoken was the whispered word, “Brienne!”. Then, he thought, the air grew denser, perfumed from an unseen censer. And here she was, his golden twin. She was worn and pale. Her hair was short and straw-like. There were dark rings under her green sad eyes. She was gaunt. She was defeated. “You betrayed me”, she said. “You left us.  
\- Cersei, I -  
\- How could you?  
\- I –  
\- I trusted you. You were meant to save us. Where were you?  
\- Cersei –  
\- You did this to us. You destroyed us.  
\- I’m sorry. I –  
\- How could you? Where are my boys? Where is my daughter? Jaime, you left us.”  
Her hands were claws. She wanted to rip him apart. She called for vengeance. Blood. Blood everywhere. Green flames. Cold flames. The ghosts came rushing in.  
Quoth the Raven “Nevermore”.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Brienne's POV in the next chapter.


	8. eight crows

Brienne knew she was dreaming. She wasn’t in Tarth, at home, but in the Isle of Faces, in the middle of the Gods Eye. She wasn’t tending her father’s wounds but Jaime’s. She knew she was dreaming but it all seemed quite real. A faint winter light came across her father’s bed, illuminating his tired face. “You betrayed us, he said.  
\- Father, I –  
\- Where were you Brienne? Where were you when the Golden Company took this island and killed its soldiers? Where you defending us? Where you doing the honorable thing?  
\- Father, I’m so sorry. I’ll come back. Let me see your wounds.  
\- Brienne, I let you go but it was such a disappointment.  
\- Father, I –”  
Brienne was submerged by guilt and dread. She had failed everyone. She was such a failure. Unshed tears were suffocating her. She heard voices, songs coming from the rafters. She looked up and wake. The sounds were fading. Crows were looking at them from the trees. The forest became eerily silent. There was a little bowl next to her with a strange liquid inside. Brienne drank and closed her eyes.


	9. nine crows

There was a roaring fire in the bedroom when she woke in a comfortable feather bed. Brienne sensed her child moving inside her. She marveled at her round body, gingerly touched her swollen abdomen. Her skin was smooth and warm. All was quiet. It felt good, strangely good. She turned and saw Jaime, sprawled in the bed beside her. He was deeply asleep, his features relaxed. He seemed peaceful and happy. Outside, the snowstorm was raging but the room was a safe haven. Brienne brushed lightly Jaime’s hair but he didn’t stir. It was too good. How could she be a mother? She was a warrior, made for war and battles. She knew nothing about motherly things. A dark shadow entered the room and perched atop the fireplace. A Raven was watching them intently. “On the morrow he will leave me, as my hopes have flown before”, said Brienne. Despair was in her heart. None of this was true. The bird was still peering at them. She felt deeply unsettled by its stare. “Leave my loneliness unbroken”, she pleaded. Then the bird said “Nevermore”.  
Brienne woke, chilled to the bone in the endless night, and checked on Jaime. His condition hadn’t improved. He was still unconscious and feverish. This was the truth. They were stranded in that island, waiting for help that didn’t come. Up on the trees, nine crows were keeping watch. She went back to sleep.


	10. ten crows

Brienne was flying with another raven, a three-eyed crow. The sky was endlessly grey and snowflakes were quietly falling. They flied above forests, above mountains. The world was reduced to nuances of white and grey. “Who are you, she asked the three-eyed crow, what am I?  
\- I was once Bran Stark. You are still the Maid of Tarth.”  
Brienne kept flying, moving her wings effortlessly. She could spot a great fortress high in the Mountains. “The Eyrie”, said the three-eyed crow. They easily reached it. The castle was made for the birds. People were crossing the courtyard, others were shoveling snow. Bran, the Raven, and Brienne, the crow, perched atop the battlements. The rooms were alive with servants and high borns. Candles illuminated the dark day. Brienne could spot a girl, a young woman really, with dark hair and beautiful eyes. She seemed afraid. Her door was closed and she was supporting herself against it. On the other side, a man with a small pointed beard was talking. Brienne couldn’t hear anything but the girl seemed more and more distressed. “This is my sister Sansa, said the three-eyed raven. You remember your vow, do you?  
\- I do, answered Brienne, but what can I do?  
\- Remember your vow. Are you an oathbreaker?  
\- What can I do?  
\- Do what you must!”.


	11. eleven crows

Brienne awoke to the songs of voices as pure as the winter air. They weren’t alone. The forest was eerily alight, the faces on the trees threatening. Brienne stood up to follow the voices. Whatever that was, she would find out. She followed a path winding between the tall, ancient trees. Deep into the wood, she found her, under the tallest weirwood. Her throat was still damaged like Lady Stoneheart’s, but her eyes were Lady Catelyn’s. “You’re dead, sputtered Brienne.  
\- You saw to that, croaked the apparition.  
\- Lady Catelyn, I –  
\- So, have you found your “woman strength” after all?  
\- Give us one more chance, please, I’ll find Sansa. Jaime –  
\- The great lions of the western hills have been slain. The direwolves will outlast us all. I know that my daughters are alive. Find them.  
\- I will.  
\- You made a vow.  
\- We have. We will find them. I swear”.


	12. twelve crows

They were surrounded by the Others, the army of dead things coming from the huge breach in the Wall. They fought side by side, valyrian steel in hand. The living were losing, their army outnumbered. In the middle of this chaos, Brienne remembered her oath. “Where are you going?, asked Jaime.  
\- I have to do it, said Brienne. I sweared to avenge Renly”.   
Stannis Baratheon was fighting with them, leading the assault with her red priestess. “This is madness. Stay with me. Brienne, this is the end. Who cares about your oaths?  
\- I do”.   
They made their way swinging their blades, guarding their backs. They couldn’t win. They couldn’t stop fighting. They would die next to each other. Brienne couldn’t stand the idea but neither could she go away. She realized, after all, that her vengeance was pointless. She lived to protect. She would die that way. Dark shadows were cast from the sky. Brienne lowered her sword as wild cries rose from the crowd. They looked up. Dragons! Dragons were coming. Jaime whispered: “Burn them all”. Ending the Long Night, Brienne saw light coming from the horizon. Dawn. Hope filled her heart and died when she recognized defeat in Jaime’s eyes. A Raven flew past them. Jaime stayed frozen, his sword a dead weight in his hand. “Take thy beak out of my heart”, she pleaded. It couldn’t end like this.

Brienne waked. “Nevermore”, croaked the Raven. It was dawn indeed. A boat was crossing the Gods Eye, heading toward them. Brienne spotted Podrick, Septon Meribald and a tall thin man. Had they found help with Harrenhal’s new castellan? Jaime was still asleep but the fever was gone. He could survive. Honor was grazing a few steps away but the direwolf who had followed them since the battle with the Brotherhood had disappeared. Brienne watched the water as the sun rose above the lake. Winter was there. She thought of cold steel and fevered dreams. Jaime opened his eyes.


End file.
